


A Fire Lord's Solstice  (An ATLA Christmas Fic)

by Lone_Star_Ranger



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gift Fic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28289880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lone_Star_Ranger/pseuds/Lone_Star_Ranger
Summary: Christmas fluff with the gaang! Featuring Secret Santa gift exchanges and carols.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Jin/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 12





	A Fire Lord's Solstice  (An ATLA Christmas Fic)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FeatherQuilt88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherQuilt88/gifts).



> Technically, this exists in my Firelord's night out AU between part 1 & 2\. However, the only references to that AU is that Jin and Zuko are dating so I'm not tagging it in the series. Everybody should be able to hop in and enjoy the fluff.
> 
> Also this is a gift fic for FeatherQuilt88, my most regular commentator on my AFL AU. You mentioned that you love the fluff scenes so I hope you enjoy this dedicated fluff piece.

Iroh stretched as he stepped back admiring his work. The Jasmine Dragon was decorated with strands of greenery and wreaths while hundreds of tiny candles lent a cozy atmosphere to the teashop. The winter solstice may be a subdued holiday in the Fire Nation, but here in the Earth Kingdom, it was a cause for celebration. 

Pao stepped up to Iroh, “This is beautiful, sir.”

Iroh chuckled, “I’m glad. I didn’t grow up celebrating the winter solstice, but it’s a celebration that has grown on me the longer I live here in Ba Sing Se.”

Pao nodded. “Just to confirm, we’re closing for the entire day of the solstice?”

“Yes, of course. Spend time with your family. My niece and nephew are coming in later and I’ll be spending my solstice with them.”

* * *

As the airship settled in on the ground, Zuko reached over and unclipped Kiyi’s safety harness. “Ok, turtle-duck, you’re free.”

“Yay! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” Kiyi chanted as she danced around Zuko.

Zuko glared at her with mock severity, “Remember, we represent the Fire Nation here and we have the arrival ceremony before we can go to the Jasmine Dragon.”

“But that’s boooorrring! I wanna see Uncle Iroh noooowww!” Kiyi whined.

A muffled snort and a swift THAWP followed from where Suki and Ty Lee stood guarding the door as Zuko glanced at them, shaking his head. Zuko knelt down, meeting Kiyi’s eyes. “You are a princess of the Fire Nation, correct?”

Kiyi nodded and Zuko continued. “Being a princess gives you lots of privileges and special treats, right?” Kiyi nodded again as Zuko spoke again, “All of those privileges come with responsibilities. While you’re too young for many of them, part of the reason for the privileges is that we are expected to care for and represent the people of the Fire Nation.”

Kiyi hung her head. “Sorry, Zuko. I like being a princess.”

Zuko kissed her forehead, “It’s ok, turtle-duck. I understand that it’s boring, but we have to be responsible and pretend that it’s not boring so we don’t insult the Earth Kingdom.”

Kiyi smiled at Zuko, “And then we can go to Jasmine Dragon?”

Zuko ruffled her hair as he agreed with her, “And then we can go to the Jasmine Dragon.”

* * *

After a long and boring ceremony, Zuko strode through the streets of the upper ring as he made his way after the bouncing red blur. Zuko smiled as Kiyi spotted the Jasmine Dragon and Uncle Iroh standing by the front door smiling at his approaching family.

Yelling with excitement, Kiyi took off running and leapt the last few feet into Uncle Iroh’s outstretched arms. Their laughter intermingled as they twirled around.

Putting her down, Iroh looked at his niece with love and pride, “Kiyi, my dear, you’ve grown so big!”

She grinned, “I have! I’ve learned 13 of the 14 Fiery phoenix katas and I passed all of the Komodo-Rhino katas and I’m learning to write words and Zuko said he would give me a hawk once I learned how to put the words all together on the page and then I can write you and you can write me back on my very own hawk and maybe even send me your favorite tea packets and I can send you flowers from the gardens because Mommy taught me how to press flowers under books and-“

Zuko’s hand fell on Kiyi’s shoulder and she stopped mid-sentence to see Zuko and Iroh beaming at her. “Perhaps you should slow down a bit?” Zuko asked with a laugh. He stepped forward and embraced his uncle. “It’s good to see you, Uncle.”

“It’s good to see you too, Fire Lord Zuko.”

“Please don’t stand on ceremony with me, Uncle, I get enough of it from the court.”

Iroh smiled, “My apologies, Zuko. I’ve seen you grow so far and the title scarcely does you justice.” The two men smiled warmly at each other before Kiyi jumped forward and snagged Iroh’s hand, pulling him into the Jasmine Dragon, chattering the entire time. Zuko stepped in after them, smiling the entire time.

* * *

“The best part of the solstice is the gift giving.” Sokka said with authority as he carefully maneuvered the packages off of Appa. 

Katara quirked an eye-brow towards her brother, “Really, Sokka? Not the delicious food or the time with family or the carols? Getting gifts in the best part?”

Sokka placed the packages on the ground and turned to look at Katara with horror. “No, I’m not that selfish! I said giving gifts was the best-“ His voice cut off abruptly as the entrance to the Jasmine Dragon slid open and he yelled “SUKI!” as he bounded up the steps and crashed into her. Embracing, the two passionately kissed in the entranceway while Zuko met Katara’s eyes and shrugged over their shoulders. Katara waved at Zuko before bending over to grab the packages. 

Aang landed next to her after vaulting Appa, “Don’t worry about this, sweetie, I’ll take care of it.”

Katara brushed her lips across Aang’s cheek, “Thanks.” She glanced behind her where Toph was rolling across the yard. “Toph…” Katara bit her tongue. She didn’t need to mother Toph.

“Relax, Sugar Queen, there’s no rush. Snoozles is blocking the door anyway.” Toph pointed out.

“He is, the hypocrite.” Katara sighed, glancing at the couple still locked in their embrace.

Aang flashed a grin at Katara, “And he says we’re bad. Maybe they should cool off?”

Katara considered briefly before Toph snorted. “If it’s not you, Sugar Queen, it’s going to be me.”

Katara grinned at Toph, “No, he’s my brother, I’ll handle it.” Water curled from her waist and wrapped around the couple before freezing. Flicking her wrist, she pulled them from the doorway and tossed them aside with a splash. She leapt up the stair and hugged Iroh. “Can I tell how glad I am that you decided to install that koi pond?”

Iroh laughed as he watched Sokka and Suki flounder their way out of the pond. “I admit that was not the purpose of the pond, but I’m glad you found it useful.” 

“Outta the way, Sugar Queen, I gotta hug my Uncle.” Toph shouldered past Katara as she embraced Iroh.

Katara smiled as she sidestepped to Zuko and hugged him. “It’s good to see you, Zuko. How have you been?”

Zuko shrugged, “I’ve been fine. Only a few assassination attempts and the Kyoshi warriors are handling them.”

Katara blinked. “That doesn’t go together, Zuko.”

“Well, considering I was raised by Ozai and had Azula for a sister, failed assassination attempts are not entirely unusual. As long as they stay failed, I’m fine.”

“Zuko, that’s not healthy.”

“Eh, it’s life.”

“Not if they kill you!”

“As much as I hate to admit it, Sugar Queen is right.”

“Et tu, Toph?”

“Add me to the list, nephew.”

“UNCLE!”

Aang bounded up with the packages floating behind him, “Why are we ganging up on Zuko?”

Katara scowled at Zuko, “This idiot thinks that several failed assassination attempts qualifies as fine.”

“Emphasis on the failed.”

Aang’s eyes glowed blue and Roku shimmered into existence around him. “Grandson, that is not normal nor acceptable behavior.”

“Says the man who fought a volcano.” Zuko scowled at Roku.

Roku returned the scowl, “I died fighting that volcano. That doesn’t do much to support your argument. Take care of yourself.” With that, he vanished and Aang bounced over to Zuko. “By the way, I agree with my predecessor and my friends.”

“Traitors.” Zuko snorted and walked back in the Jasmine Dragon, dragging Toph along who was firmly latched around his side.

“Umm, we can’t be traitors, we’re not Fire Nations citizens.” Katara pointed out as she and Aang walked in with Iroh behind.

“I’m the Fire Lord, I can unilaterally declare you all citizens of the fire nation, give you land to make it all official, and then declare you traitors officially.”

As the group laughed, Sokka and Suki appeared at the door in their sodden clothes. “Hey, sis, you think you can fix this?”

Katara turned around with a gleam in her eye, “Of course.” She said sweetly as she bent the water off their skin and clothes into a condensed ball. Sokka hesitated under Katara’s glare and then she launched the water with a concussive blast that blew Sokka out of the door and back into the koi pond. Stomping to the door, she yelled out, “AND THAT’S FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT AANG AND I THE ENTIRE TRIP, YOU HYPOCRITE!” Calming herself, she turned, “Suki, it’s so good to see you again!” 

Sokka sputtered as the gaang laughed at the siblings’ antics.

* * *

Katara walked into the room where her friends were gathered to exchange presents. Iroh stood up from the table when he spotted Katara entering. “Ah, Master Katara. Enjoy your time with your friends, Kiyi and I are going to make hot chocolate.”

“Let’s gooooo! Hot Chwacolate!” 

A chorus of good-byes sounded as Iroh hurried after the bouncing red blur of Kiyi and Katara settled in next to Aang who draped his arm around her while she rested her head on his shoulder.

Sokka glanced at his sister, “Eww, oogies!”

“Can it, snoozles. You ate your girlfriend’s face as soon as you saw her.” Toph said with a laugh.

Suki blushed a deep red and Katara took pity on her, saying “Who’s going first?”

Toph stuck her hand up, “Youngest gets their present first!”

Aang glanced at her, “Your birthday is after mine.”

“You’re a hundred years older than me, you don’t count, old man.”

As the gaang laughed, Aang handed Toph a heavy box. Toph frowned, “What is this?”

Aang grinned proudly, “That is a platinum box, a pure metal that should be resistant to your earthbending. That way you couldn’t peek inside.”

“Twinkletoes! I am gravely insulted that you would think that I would cheat!” Toph drew herself up in mock outrage.

Katara snorted, “And I supposed the _runaway_ hasn’t peeked at everyone else’s presents already?”

Toph straightened up, “I give you my word as a Beifong that I have not looked at the presents.”

Katara rolled her eyes, “Toph, you’re blind.”

“FINE, I PEEKED! I was curious and they got stacked on the floor.” As everybody laughed, she shook the box vigorously, “Hey, Twinkletoes, this fragile?”

“Fortunately not. You can just dump it out.”

Toph poured a collection of rocks and metals out onto the floor. As she reached for them, Aang preempted her question, “Those are rare earths and metals that I’ve been collecting for the past six months whenever I fly around on a new mission.”

Toph’s smile broadened as she sensed the different earths and metals, “This is awesome, Twinkletoes.” She punched him affectionately and bent everything back into the box. Stepping over to the boxes, she grabbed her box and presented it to Katara. “Here ya go, Sugar Queen.”

Katara opened it to find a circle of statues of her in varying outfits ranging from Earth Kingdom formal wear to Water tribe casual posed around a twisting waterspout. Every statue held a scroll which had a series of jagged lines on it. “Toph, this is beautiful! Do the scrolls mean anything?” 

“Oh, yeah, each scroll is Twinkletoes’ heartbeat and how fast it was going when he saw you in that particular outfit.”

Aang’s blush crawled past his arrow as Katara turned the statues of herself around as she thought, _well now I know which outfits he likes best._ Smirking at Aang, she resolved to break away to her room and change at the first opportunity. She glanced up at the room, “My turn, I guess?” 

Aang and Sokka both confirmed it was indeed her turn and she lifted her box carefully before turning to hand it to Zuko. Zuko carefully opened it and slid out a metal picture frame with an abstract image of his turtleduck pond shimmering on the paper.

Katara smiled, “The artwork is an old Southern bending technique that I learned called Suminagashi where you float the pigments in the water and then bend them onto the page.”

“Katara, I’m speechless, this is amazing. Thank you so much.”

“Lady Ursa helped, it’s really hard to figure out a gift for someone who lives in a palace.” She teased.

“Well, this is beautiful and you made it yourself?” As she nodded, he shook his head, “that’s amazing. Thank you, again.”

“Come on, Sparky. Admire the art on your own time.”

“Toph, doesn’t it look beautiful? Give the man a moment to appreciate my sister’s talent.” Sokka asked peering over Zuko’s shoulder.

“Sure, it looks great to me.”

Sokka nodded several times before realization sunk in, “TOPH!”

She snickered, “Too easy.”

Zuko shrugged, “She did get you, buddy.” Carefully setting the artwork aside, he hefted his box and presented it to Aang.

Aang carefully tore through the wrapping paper before balling it up and airbending it into the can that they had hauled in for that purpose. 

Lifting the lid, he removed an enormous book entitled “ _The History and Culture of the Air Nomads._ ” Looking at Zuko, he gestured towards the book, but choked up, unable to say anything.

Zuko smiled, “It’s all the records we could find. I opened Sozin’s vault and private records, then assigned a team of writers and researchers to record everything we could find on the Air Nomads. This is a compilation of all the written records, the history, recipes, stories, and sketches of the temples; everything we could find about the air nomads, we put in that book.”

Aang wiped the tears from his eyes, “I don’t know what to say.” Carefully placing the book down, he vaulted the table and wrapped Zuko in a hug. “Thank you, Zuko, you have no idea what this means for me.”

Toph broke in, “Enough with the sappy stuff, Twinkletoes.”

Zuko pushed Toph aside and slid his arms around Aang, “You’re welcome.”

Aang pulled away after a minute and wiped his eyes again. “Hey, wait, how did it make it back to me already? I started this exchange.” 

Toph snorted, “Funny story about that, I originally drew Suki, but Sokka insisted that he _needed_ to have Suki for some reason.”

Katara sat upright, “He did WHAT!?! I wanted to have Aang, but we had rules about switching!”

Sokka waved his hands, “Since when do Toph and I have any respect for rules?”

Katara glared at Sokka with annoyance. “It’s the principle of the matter!”

Studiously ignoring Katara, Sokka reached for his present for Suki, but Suki shoved her box into Sokka’s arms, “You first, Sokka.”

Sokka smiled at Suki, “If you’re sure, my love…”

The gaang urged Sokka to go and he tore through the wrapping to find a package of seal jerky and a book. Flipping through the book, he paged through blueprint after blueprint as Suki spoke, “I requested engineering plans from the mechanist and a bunch of Fire nation factories that were all eager to have you look over them. The Fire Nation factories also included an invitation for you to visit the factories.

“Thank you, Suki, this is great! Now it’s my turn for you.”

Suki smiled as he spun to grab her present, but fell off his chair to the laughter of his friends. Picking himself up, he presented the long box to Suki. Lifting the lid, she gasped as she saw shimmering black katana engraved with gold lettering with a polished wolf-whale bone handle. “Did you make this yourself, Sokka?”

Sokka nodded, “Yes, I visited Master Piandao for more training and he told me he kept the rest of the meteorite. Aang summoned Kyoshi so I could ask her for a message to put on the sword and she said to engrave “Only Justice will bring Peace” on the blade. I figured you’d appreciate this more than ---” Suki abruptly grabbed Sokka’s shirt and pulled him into a passionate kiss. 

As Sokka rocked back when she released her grip, she said, “Sokka, I love you so much. This is perfect.” 

“He still broke the rules.” Katara said, mock-crossly.

“For which you can mock him relentlessly, but I’m not arguing.”

Toph snorted, “Of course not, he gave you a sword.”

Aang leapt up, “Come on, let’s clean up! Iroh said company would be here soon.

* * *

Iroh and Kiyi hauled out the different jugs of hot chocolate while Aang airbended cream into what he called “whipped cream.”

A series of rapid thunks sounded on the door and Zuko opened it to see Lt. Jee standing there with the rest of the Wani’s crew. Lt. Jee formed the flame with his hands, “Permission to enter, Captain?”

Zuko straightened and return the salute, “Permission granted, Lieutenant.” The two men stood looking at each other for a brief moment before Zuko reached forward and pulled Lt. Jee into a hug. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too, Captain.”

Conversation flowed easily and the evening wore on. Jin slipped in late after her shift ended and Zuko pulled her close for a hug. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“So am I.” She tugged on his arm, “Come with me to get something sweet.”

The two walked towards the desserts, but Jin paused in the doorway and looked at Zuko with a smile. Zuko paused, puzzled. She flicked her eyes up, “The decorations look nice.”

“They do. Uncle and Kiyi worked hard on them. They put up a lot of plants and candles.” 

Jin laughed. “What kind of plant is that?” She asked, innocently pointing to a distinctive green spring hanging from the top of the door.

Zuko glanced up, “That’s…mistletoe. It’s a common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant and….” Zuko trailed off at the expectant look Jin was giving him. “My mom’s a herbalist and I grew up reading her books.”

“Did her books tell you about the cultural significance of mistletoe?”

Zuko shook his head.

Sokka slid behind Zuko’s back on his way to get more cookies and hearing the last of the conversation, said, “Just kiss her already.”

Zuko jumped in surprise when Sokka startled him and had barely landed when Jin wrapped her arms around Zuko and pulled him into a long kiss under the mistletoe.

* * *

Iroh looked around the interior of his tea shop at the happy party that had been going on for hours. Clapping his hands, he drew everybody’s attention to himself. “Thank you all for coming to our solstice celebration. A few people have said they were going to be leaving soon, this tea shop needs to open early tomorrow, and I was hoping we could sing one last song before we all went our separate ways.” 

Everybody agreed loudly and Iroh held his hands up while Zuko and few crewmen grabbed their instruments. After they checked the tuning of their instruments, Iroh hummed a few bars to catch the tune before he started singing

_Should auld acquaintance be forgot_

_And never brought to mind?_

Toph linked arms with Lt. Jee and the crew swaying back and forth as they sang a familiar melody.

_Should auld acquaintance be forgot_

_And days of auld lang syne?_

Sokka snagged another piece of cake before sitting down next to Suki. Stabbing it with his fork, he lifted to Suki’s lips and she plucked it off the fork before gracing him with an icing-stained smile.

_For auld lang syne, my dear_

_For auld lang syne_

As the chorus swelled, Jin curled up next to Zuko, carefully laying on his shoulder in a way that didn’t interfere with his playing the tsungi horn.

_We'll take the cup o' kindness yet_

_For auld lang syne_

Katara was dancing with Aang and as they slowly swayed together, she flicked her fingers in a subtle bending motion. The contents of two water pitchers leapt above their heads before transforming to snow that drifted softly around them as they danced slowly, lost in each other’s eyes.

_For auld lang syne, my dear_

_For auld lang syne_

_We'll take the cup o' kindness yet_

_For auld lang syne_

As the final chorus began to fade, Kiyi clambered onto a table and hefted her mug of hot chocolate before she loudly proclaimed. “A Merry Solstice, everyone!”

**Author's Note:**

> And a very Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all my readers! Hope you all enjoyed this little Christmas fluff piece.
> 
> Behind the scenes info and credits:
> 
> Suminagashi is a Japanese style of artwork that involves laying ink on water and then dipping the paper onto the ink according to a very rapid google and youtube session. It produced some beautiful art in the videos I saw and looked like something that could be adapted to water bending. I know the Water tribes are based on the Inuit culture, but this artistic technique seemed to fit perfectly with the story.
> 
> Zuko’s recitation of mistletoe is lifted straight off Wikipedia. 
> 
> Shoutouts to everybody on Reddit and Tumblr that helped suggest gift ideas for the gaang’s exchange. 
> 
> Spicyswordlady (Tumblr) and Ashcat390 (Reddit) had nearly identical ideas of Zuko giving Aang a book with either Air Nomad history or old stories. I saw that and went “Why not both?” 
> 
> Ashcat 390 also had the idea for Toph to give Katara a statue which sparked my idea for the heartbeats and multiple statues.
> 
> Degrassi-fanatic (Tumblr) suggested giving Zuko something that reminded him of his mother or Iroh which prompted me to look up artwork crafted using water where I discovered Suminagashi. 
> 
> JimmyBuckets4Pres (Reddit) had a bunch of really neat ideas, but since I had already drafted the gifts section, the only one I was able to use without a complete rewrite was his idea that Sokka would get Suki a message from Avatar Kyoshi; that bit of inspiration became the blade inscription.
> 
> Comments and Kudos appreciated! Have a very merry Christmas!


End file.
